Marco PoloConsultinghttp://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/
How to improve Cross-cultural communicationSun, 03 Jun 2018 22:10:24 -0700http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/how-to-improve-cross-cultural-communication
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/how-to-improve-cross-cultural-communication<p>If your team development question is: <em>"How can we improve our cross-cultural team communication and team work effectiveness?", i</em>ndividual and team coaching can be one of the approaches to use.</p><p>If interested contact us (www.marco-polo-consulting.com). We have facilitated many development journeys on this aspect.</p><a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/how-to-improve-cross-cultural-communication>Read More</a>Otto ScharmerSun, 03 Jun 2018 21:01:16 -0700http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/otto-scharmer
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/otto-scharmer<h3> Fate un passo verso il futuro che vuole emergere </h3><p><em>Otto Scharmer spiega come adottare una prospettiva differente e superare i periodi di crisi</em></p><p>La più grande sfida che spaventa ciascuno di noi? È riuscire ad affrontare la prossima <b>crisi</b> che verrà, senza venirne travolti ma anzi coglierla come un’<b>opportunità,</b> attraverso la quale <b>crescere</b>.”</p><p>A parlare è Otto Scharmer. Il docente del MIT di Boston usa un tono pacato, come se stesse analizzando un argomento qualsiasi. E come quando si leggono i testi che riportano le sue teorie e le sue idee, la <b>semplicità</b> e il <b>buon senso</b> sono dei fattori che colpiscono.</p><p>“In questo momento – riprende Scharmer – stiamo affrontando un profondo <b>sconvolgimento degli equilibri</b>, sotto diversi punti di vista: ecologico, sociale, spirituale, tecnologico e non conosco nessun leader, amministratore delegato o manager, che non senta la pressione. Ed è questo il momento giusto per <b>uscire dalla propria bolla</b>, per spostarsi in un punto con maggiore potenzialità, che metta nella condizione di <b>osservare da una prospettiva più ampia</b>. Solo così sarà possibile <b>generare nuove idee,</b> che consentano di esplorare il futuro, creare sinergie e <b>nuove forme di collaborazione,</b> rispetto al presente.”</p><p>L’innovazione, si legge infatti nel nuovo libro “Teoria U, I Fondamentali”, edito da Guerini Next, accade in luoghi. In natura, prima di trasformarsi in farfalla, il bruco ha bisogno del riparo del bozzolo. Proteggere come un bozzolo <b>il processo creativo è un’attività fondamentale</b>; il bozzolo è lo spazio di sostegno necessario all’innovazione profonda.</p><p>“<b>Per affrontare le crisi</b>, per poterle riconoscere, dobbiamo prima saper dedicare del tempo di qualità, per <b>imparare a sentire cosa accade attorno a noi</b>”, sottolinea l’ideatore della Teoria U, il metodo che parte dalla consapevolezza individuale per arrivare al cambiamento sociale,...<a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/otto-scharmer>Read More</a>Staffing Journey re-design - our projectsFri, 24 Nov 2017 04:00:07 -0800http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/staffing-journey-re-design-our-projects
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/staffing-journey-re-design-our-projects<p><strong>OBJECTIVE</strong>:</p><ul><li>Revise and improve the staffing process and effectively fill vacancies with an <u>internal and external </u>pipeline</li><li>Create a journey for a collaborative and positive manager/employee experience</li><li>Involve HR and Manager/Employee in the re-design and provide them a human-centred innovation approach</li></ul><p><strong>DESCRIPTION</strong>:</p><ul><li>Design Thinking for Employee Experience re-design</li><li>End to end support in all phases: Briefing – Sourcing - Pre-screening – Assessment – Data Integration & Decision making - Onboarding based on discovered opportunities for improvement</li><li>Innovative and Digital Tools </li><li>Training to HR and Managers</li></ul><p style="font-size: 80%;"><em><strong>Managing Director at</strong> <strong>Marco Polo Consulting</strong></em></p><p style="font-size: 80%;"><em>Giorgia spent most of her HR career in senior positions in corporate HR in Europe, US and Asia with companies such as Fiat Group and The Nielsen Company. In 2008 she founded Marco Polo Consulting, a company specializing in Organization development/HR/Transformation professional services operating across Asia-pacific. She delivers facilitation, coaching, training, advise, OD temporary management. Recently Giorgia has been HR and Organizational Behaviors EMBA Adjunct Professor at MIP/Tongji University in China. She is a subject matter expert for Employee Experience re-design and innovation by collaborative approaches such as Design Thinking, Lego Serious play, Art of Hosting, Graphic Facilitation. She is currently based in Singapore. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/giorgia-madonno-313b677/">https</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/giorgia-madonno-313b677/">://www.linkedin.com/in/giorgia-madonno-313b677/</a></em></p><p style="font-size: 80%;">Would you like to know more about our Transformation Journey services? Contact us.</p><a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/staffing-journey-re-design-our-projects>Read More</a>The culture for Innovation Journey - Our project casesFri, 24 Nov 2017 03:50:10 -0800http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/the-culture-for-innovation-journey-our-project-cases
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/the-culture-for-innovation-journey-our-project-cases<p><strong>OBJECTIVE</strong>:</p><p>• Develop a culture of innovation</p><p>• Develop mindset and equip employees with tools/methodology (MHW Design Thinking approach)</p><p>• Create the leadership and organizational conditions to develop a culture of innovation</p><p>• Move from a vertical to a horizontal/diffuse/project style leadership approach</p><p>• Develop proactivity, courage, vulnerability acceptance and self-permission to ask for support</p><p>• Develop mindset and capability for co-creation to embrace and facilitate collective creativity</p><p><strong>DESCRIPTION</strong>:</p><p>Making innovation becoming part of the Corporate culture is a long journey. It requires the right organization, the right leadership, being able to apply innovation methodologies, develop the right mindset, having the people with the right profile for innovation and much more.</p><p>What are we doing?</p><p>1) A one year journey aimed to:</p><ul><li>Develop and train ambassadors on innovation and MHW Design Thinking</li><li>Create momentum, recognition and sponsorship for innovation prototypes</li><li>Create awareness in employees about HMW Design Thinking and innovation in order to create a common language and mindset with crash course on MHW Design Thinking</li><li>Involve cross-functional teams in MHW Design Thinkin projects on “functional challenges” facilitated by the Ambassadors</li><li>Creating a community of innovators with monthly activities to continue to learn, share, help each other in the journey</li></ul><p>Change does not happen because we are told to do it or because we are given “tools” for it. Change starts when:</p><ul><li>We are able to answer the question: WHY DO I NEED TO CHANGE?</li><li>We create conditions for change at a deeper level, leveraging on motivation and intention to change; </li><li>We become able to overcome our “immunity to change” understanding the contradicting forces which hold us back</li></ul><p>2) <strong> </strong>This is what we are...<a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/the-culture-for-innovation-journey-our-project-cases>Read More</a>Assessment analytics and Team re-engineering - Our project casesFri, 24 Nov 2017 03:15:55 -0800http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/assessment-analytics-and-team-re-engineering-our-project-cases
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/assessment-analytics-and-team-re-engineering-our-project-cases<p style="font-size: 130%;"><strong>OBJECTIVE</strong>: Understand the personality profile of talents, their stress activators and their motivational drivers in order to:</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• better identify talents to be recruited or better know the individual and team</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">strengths and development opportunities</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• identify targeted development areas and improve business performance</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• work on short and long term future employ-ability of the employees</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• re-engineer the team for business success</p><p style="font-size: 130%;"><strong>DESCRIPTION</strong>:</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">We use a mix of instrument and approaches in collaboration with Beside</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• Personality inventories on Hogan Platform (HPI, HDS, MVPI)</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• Behavioral anchored interview</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• Career configuration (identification of potential career scenarios for given</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">job profiles/levels)</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• Integration of data and consolidation of report for decision making on how</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">develop the person and team/organization</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• Individual feedback</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• Support in defining the expected profiles and mix based on company high</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">performers profiles and business targets</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">• Workshop with the client to re-engineer the team based on expected mix</p><p style="font-size: 130%;">of profiles and leadership/company culture. Staffing, development, mobility</p><p style="font-size: 130%;"> are all used to re-shape the team in order to succeed in the market</p><p style="font-size: 80%;"><em><strong>Managing Director at</strong> <strong>Marco Polo Consulting</strong></em></p><p style="font-size: 80%;"><em>Giorgia spent...<a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/assessment-analytics-and-team-re-engineering-our-project-cases>Read More</a>Redesign Employee Experience with Design ThinkingTue, 31 Oct 2017 03:15:32 -0700http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/redesign-employee-experience-with-design-thinking
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/redesign-employee-experience-with-design-thinking<p>As digital transforms the business environment, the successful organizations of the future will likely be those that can move faster, adapt more quickly, learn more rapidly, and embrace innovation.<br>The digital transformation brings a more and more unpredictable and complex environment and a dramatic shift in terms of business model and customer experience. The innovations are faster and it becomes difficult to predict how future will look like and which competencies will be needed. For this reason, the organizations struggle in preparing and developing talents for the future. This will have these major impacts:</p><ul><li>When the needed competencies will be clear enough we will have to act quickly and we might not have enough time to develop internally the competencies so the external war for talents will be even stronger than today</li><li>The external customer experience will be dramatically impacted by the internal employee experience and the ability of people to design a blended approach of digital and human customer relationship</li><li>Internally the best approach we can have at this stage is to focus on learning agility and adaptability and leadership skills adapted to manage complexity, agility, and innovation </li></ul><p>It is clear then that the below aspects become dramatically important:</p><ol><li>Talent attraction, retention, and engagement through great employee experience</li><li>Leadership and skills development strategy</li></ol><p><strong>EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE</strong></p><p>If companies want to attract, retain and engage the best (and few) talents, they have to switch from being places where people stay because they NEED to work to places where people truly WANT to work. This can happen only if the talents have a great employee experience. Over the years we notice that organizations have moved from providing:</p><ul><li>what the employees need in order to perform their job (basic tools and space)</li><li>to providing the systems needed...<a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/redesign-employee-experience-with-design-thinking>Read More</a>Visual Book summary -"The Employee Experience Advantage"Sat, 22 Jul 2017 01:21:19 -0700http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/visual-book-summary-the-employee-experience-advantage
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/visual-book-summary-the-employee-experience-advantage<h3><p>Book by Jacob Morgan</p><p>Visual by Giorgia Madonno</p></h3><p>In a world where the talents war is more and more fierce and a great customer experience become critical to win the competition, companies need to create working environment where the employees want to work (not just need to work). A great employee experience will contribute significantly to a great customer experience.</p><p>Based on a research conducted across regions and industries and counting a significant number of companies, it emerges that the most important element impacting the employee experience are a compelling purpose, a good technological and working environment and corporate culture.</p><p>Take a moment and try to list down 3 positive memories in your employee experience happened during your career life and than 3 negatives. The way you think to your working experience is based on specific moments you have been living, isn't it? Most probably you have been thinking to your first day of work in an organization or a discussion with your manager, or what your colleague in HR (or your manager) has offered when they proposed you for a working experience abroad. Employees do not cluster their experience by silos, processes or systems (people development, talent acquisition etc) as we do usually in HR departments, but think to their experience as you just did, by important moments in the journey.</p><p style="font-size: 80%;">We hope you enjoyed reading this article! <em>Are you interested in receving our news letter? Register ere. <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMOg4VUzaQjCIkWYTjW3IpwK7XTAPVOyh15bq30L-N2DeCNw/viewform?c=0&w=1">https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMOg4VUzaQjCIkWYTjW3IpwK7XTAPVOyh15bq30L-N2DeCNw/viewform?c=0&w=1</a></em></p><p><em>Would you like to know more about our Graphic Scribing and facilitation services? Write me here.</em></p><a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/visual-book-summary-the-employee-experience-advantage>Read More</a>How art can be used to help people and organizational transformation and social changeThu, 06 Jul 2017 18:54:26 -0700http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/how-art-can-be-used-to-help-people-and-organizational-transformation-and
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/how-art-can-be-used-to-help-people-and-organizational-transformation-and<p>Art has been somehow always a part of my life. My mother was painting ceramics, creating jewellery and handmade bags at home; my father has been painting, carving wood and he creates now masks made with terra-cruda. Both of them were doing that in their spare-time not as working activity. Beside that in my country (Italy) everywhere you can breathe beauty, aesthetic and art. Even the way my mum dresses or prepares the table for receiving guests are guided by her artistic soul and Italian culture.</p><p>Before starting paintings classes, I experienced other forms of art: acting theatre, puppetry, writing and dance and when I arrived to Singapore, I was searching for another way to express myself and to give new food to the creative part of me. I was arriving from China, where I have been living for 7 years and I was starting a new chapter of my life. I came to Singapore for business and family reasons and I thought that starting painting classes could be a good way to connect with my new home, fulfil my soul and maybe, why not, integrate art with my business activity (I own and run a business of organization development and transformation consulting in Asia Pacific).</p><p>I found My Art Space by chance, searching on internet and I started to go there regularly (it is already 3 years now). I loved this place from the first day not (only) because of the great location and teachers but most of all because of the "philosophy " of teaching art as a way of living. I loved the message that Chankerk gave to us the first day: art is first of all self-discover and self-expression, the most important is the journey not the result. Technique of course is important but it comes after, with time and application. The objective of painting is not the perfect reproduction of a picture but the expression of a meaning and of ourselves. This approach resonated with me so well and it has been really the start of a fantastic journey within myself and the power of art.</p><p>I...<a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/how-art-can-be-used-to-help-people-and-organizational-transformation-and>Read More</a>Digital Transformation - Impact on OrganizationSat, 15 Apr 2017 09:37:15 -0700http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/digital-transformation-impact-on-organization
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/digital-transformation-impact-on-organization<h3><p>Which are the major trends in organization?</p></h3><p>The digital transformation is impacting deeply also the organizations. This mainly because of the speed of innovation and agility needed, of the complexity to be managed and thanks to the technology facilitating open collaboration and virtual work. Here below the major trends:</p><ul><li>Self-managed/collaborative organizations</li><li>Virtual/Remote working</li><li>Agile approach</li><li>Job Crafting</li></ul><h3><p>Self-managed/collaborative organizations</p></h3><p>Frederic Laloux book "Reinventing organizations' reports the evidence of new form organizations that the writer calls "Teal" and around this a strong movement has emerged. The main differentiation from other forms of organization are:</p><ul><li>These organizations are driven by a strong PURPOSE and this purpose, in terms of importance, comes before the business results (which regularly follow). The purpose is what the company wants to bring in the world, it is the deep WHY it exists, it is the driving force. This purpose is evolutionary because it is not just the vision of the founder but is what the business needs to become by sensing the real needs of the people/customers is serving. This purpose can be modified during the time by the employees who sense the tension and the needs in the field. An example of purpose, can be the one I took from a start up I recently mentored: "Save people life by teaching them how to swim". The assumption is that this purpose, if strong enough, will foster energy and all companies focusing on the same purpose will automatically become partners and not competitors anymore because they will all contribute to the same objective. Quoting from Reinventing organization wiki(<em>"Teal Organizations are seen as having a life and a sense of direction of their own. Instead of trying to predict and control the future, members of the organization are invited to listen in and understand what the organization wants to...<a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/digital-transformation-impact-on-organization>Read More</a>"Visual" book summary" - The Innovation-friendly organizationTue, 11 Apr 2017 01:33:51 -0700http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/visual-book-summary-the-innovation-friendly-organization
http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/visual-book-summary-the-innovation-friendly-organization<p style="text-align: center; font-size: 130%;"><strong><em>Book by Anna Simpson</em></strong></p><p style="text-align: center; font-size: 130%;"><strong><em>Visual by Giorgia Madonno</em></strong></p><p>Explore the five cultural elements that organizations should develop and support to enable innovation. Each of them will improve the ability to uncover and listen to a wider variety of perspectives, generate and recognize new ideas, explore the possible implications and applications, and speed the emergence of new practices. They are: Diversity (for renewal, through the exchange of different perspectives", Integrity (to support each other to bring their whole self to their work), Curiosity (for creative experimentation, embracing aimlessness and risk), Reflection (to approach change with the care it deserves, Connection (for strength to face the ultimate "sledgehammer test!"</p><p><em>"Put your fortress under siege and its weaknesses will quickly be revealed, in other words, you can build the walls, but if they actually keep everything out you'll be in trouble"; Diversity brings more resilience, creativity, collective intelligence, cultural agility and innovation.</em></p><p><em>Integrity to our purpose, ideas and purpose brings critical thinking. The enterprises need it but their culture usually promotes conformity as this brings efficient replication. But how about creativity and innovation ? Focus on strength, embrace difference, promote authenticity and create a safe environment for dissent are some possible actions...</em></p><p><em>How to stimulate the curiosity needed for innovation? making space for adventure; making the mind wonder; designing offices for fresh thinking; prototyping; looking outside of ourselves, playing and learning from mistakes</em></p><p><em>Innovation is critical in the V.U.C.A era, but do we really always need speed? Is it a call to action or more a call to reflection?</em></p><p><em>How to avoid the fear and distress associated to...<a href=http://www.marco-polo-consulting.com/blog/visual-book-summary-the-innovation-friendly-organization>Read More</a>